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sixthlight) wrote2019-08-05 08:24 pm
Book round-up: July 2019
I was at sea for most of July and after last October, I went on a book shopping spree pre-voyage to make sure I wasn’t hate-reading the contents of the ship’s library again in search of fresh content. I succeeded, but at the cost of six hundred pages of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which is at least good for bragging rights for the next decade or so. (Watch the documentary or read a precis; it’s nice to know Picketty has done his work, but not necessary to comprehending the key lessons, i.e., tax the rich.) If you’re looking for recs/reviews of newish fiction, there’s a lot here, so dig in.
The Poppy War (R F Kuang)
Military fantasy following a peasant girl who earns a place at a prestigious academy, riffing very closely on early twentieth century China in the manner that, e.g., David Weber riffs on the French Revolution/Napoleonic War era. Gripping but uncompromising, and in particular the section describing the equivalent of the Nanking Massacre I wish I hadn’t read. Unsure whether I’ll pick up the sequel unless I can get someone to flag the really grim stuff first.
A Memory Called Empire (Arkady Martine)
You’ve probably seen this recommended around the place; run, do not walk. Technically space opera but really more a political thriller in a space opera setting – a new ambassador from a small nation arrives at the centre of an empire to find her predecessor has been murdered. Lyrical, thoughtful meditation on culture, imperialism, language, identity, and what empires are. Bonus: extremely not 1950s-America-In-Space, lots of queer characters.
The Prisoner of Zenda (Anthony Hope)
I enjoyed K J Charles ‘The Henchmen of Zenda’ so much I thought I should check out the original. Very early twentieth century British in its outlook in every way, but it kicked off a genre (Ruritanian fantasy) for a reason. Cracking good adventure.
The True Queen (Zen Cho)
Follow-up to Sorcerer to the Crown but doesn’t at all require reading that (but do). Two girls wake up on a Malaysian island with no memory; a witch sends them to England to investigate their past; Magical Regency Shenanigans Ensue. Lots of fun, at once loving and skewering its main setting. Also, really really really good Fairyland, finding that often difficult balance of whimsy, danger, and underlying logic.
The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Seanan McGuire)
Okay, I’ll admit it, I mostly read this to see whether my love/hate feelings about Feedback were the book in particular or me and McGuire in general, and it turns out I’m just…not a fan of her protagonists, and I can’t put my finger on exactly why. Great worldbuilding/magic system though; I wish I liked her stuff better.
record of a spaceborn few (Becky Chambers)
Slice-of-life story about what it means to be an exploring culture who’ve reached their destination, in the same universe as The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet and a closed and common orbit. Not a book with a plot per se, but carries you along gently; if you liked the others you’ll like this. Great science-y space opera universe.
Children of Blood and Bone (Tomi Adeyemi)
YA novel which to me was principally differentiated by being set in Fantasy West Africa rather than Fantasy America or Fantasy Europe. Neat worldbuilding, but unfortunately, in almost every other respect it was wedded to YA tropes that are not my thing – there’s a rebellion, there’s oppressed magic-users, there’s a heterosexual romance you know is coming because the participants hate each other, etc, etc. Fell very short on my Some Of These People Have To Fucking Like Each Other criterion. Will not be following up any sequels.
Storm of Locusts (Rebecca Roanhorse)
Sequel to Trail of Lightning (definitely read that first); Maggie Hosking is a monster-hunter in post-apocalyptic Dinétah (Navajo country) with magical powers and an unfortunate habit of taking on gods, and she just can’t catch a break. Borderline horror elements in there, but never cruel even when bad things happen to nice people. Maggie is slowly making friends entirely against her will and it’s GREAT, I need ten more books of this.
The Nature of a Pirate (A M Dellamonica)
Third book in the Stormwrack series; portal science fantasy, following marine biologist Sophie Hansa and friends/relatives as she explores the oceanic world of Stormwrack, which might be a future Earth…so Sophie and friends will DO SCIENCE to find out (as well as prevent political upheaval, learn magic, fall in love, the usual.) Just lots of fun, especially if you like the Protagonist Who Does A Science thing (and it’s good science, too. *hearts*)
The Afterward (E K Johnston)
A mostly-female team of knights, a wizard, and a thief save a king and foil a demon god; what do their lives look like afterwards? Short, sweet, thoughtful SUPER-QUEER, very much a D&D flavour but in the best modern 5E way.
Lovecraft Country (Matt Ruff)
Pulp horror series of linked short stories/novellas centred around one Black family who find that eldritch horror is pretty easy to deal with when you’ve lived your whole life under Jim Crow – the fact that the universe is cold and capricious and that the powers that control it don’t regard you as human isn’t much of a surprise, after all. This sounds like a grim take, but this is a book that values compassion and communication as the best weapons against evil. Great example of the modern wave of fiction reclaiming cosmic horror from its racist forebears.
A Study In Honor (Claire O’Dell)
Surgeon Dr Janet Watson returns home to Washington (DC) after being injured in the New Civil War, and ends up rooming with the mysterious Sara Holmes…and uncovering a conspiracy imperilling the soldiers she went to war to save. I’m iffy on Holmes stories but this one is different enough to intrigue me, and Sara and Janet are so well-drawn as characters in their own right I almost wish the book had filed off the serial numbers a little more. Also super-great if you’re into queerplatonic-emphasis-on-the-queer Holmes/Watson. Sequel out really soon, will definitely pick it up.
The Queen of Ieflaria (Effie Calvin)
Fantasy romance; a princess arrives in a foreign country to find the prince she’s been betrothed to is dead, and his twin sister isn’t that keen on taking his place…or might she change her mind? Slight (especially in the worldbuilding stakes) but fun. I’ll look up other stuff from the author.
Jade City (Fonda Lee)
Fantasy family saga; in a Fantasy East Asian country thirty years past its independence from a mainland invasion, the ties between the former freedom fighters are starting to waver as their children take power – and control of the jade which gives street fighters magical abilities. Took about half the book to really get going, but unputdownable once it got there. The sequel is just out, too!
The Candle and the Flame (Nafiza Azad)
Middle Eastern urban-secondary world fantasy; in a city co-ruled by humans and djinn, a woman who grew up as an orphan after surviving a massacre suddenly finds herself with djinn powers. Meanwhile, not all the humans in the city are happy with the way power is shared, including different members of the city’s royal family. If you’re not already familiar with Hindi/Urdu/Arabic terms and concepts around food, clothing, and mythology you’re going to spend a LOT of quality time with the glossary at the back, but the book has the courage of its convictions and it’s worth it.
The Raven Tower (Ann Leckie)
It’s Ann Leckie, you don’t need me to tell you it’s great, but just in case: it’s Hamlet in Fantasy North America, but also there’s a god that’s a stone and reflections on language and divinity and just read it, OK? The last line is perfection.
Ancestral Night (Elizabeth Bear)
Big-concept space opera about memory and choosing to be a good person and found family and what good government looks like and properly weird aliens and how fucking aggravating it is when you meet someone extremely hot who is also an extremely terrible person (and you’re both women). Not sure if there’s anything else coming in this universe but I would totally read it.
The Phoenix Empress (K Arsenault Rivera)
Sequel to The Tiger’s Daughter; East Asian-set epic fantasy about two women becoming gods. Still goes a bit slowly for my taste – it’s wedded to a semi-epistolary/story-telling format – but has kept me hooked on what the hell is really going on.
Empress of Forever (Max Gladstone)
Journey to the West as psychedelic far-future space opera, with lesbians. Max Gladstone keeps writing a lot of books where most of the characters are women, and that gives them space to be heroic and evil and fucked-up and cute and deeply themselves without being The [x] Girl, and I am so here for it. Also, you read the first line, right? Right.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Thomas Picketty)
That one you’ve heard about a million times if you hang around in Western left-wing circles. Yes, it’s good. Yes, it’s six hundred pages. No, it’s not required reading, but it does do an excellent job of laying out precisely how capital accumulates to itself, and redistribution is impossible without deliberate taxation of capital income. Now I have to go yell at Certain People about a capital gains tax some more, brb.
Command and Control (Eric Schlosser)
History of how the American nuclear arsenal was (but mostly wasn’t) safeguarded, built around an accident that nearly set off a Titan nuclear missile. Technically and historically interesting and well-written, but boy is it obvious how a certain class of male writer just…doesn’t notice…women in history.
Ruined by Design (Mike Monteiro)
Basically one long rant about the abdication of responsibility by designers in Silicon Valley and how it leads to Very Bad Things; somewhat repetitive but some good points about how to think about ethics in design, if design is your job, and how to push back on pressure to be unethical. For non-designers, a good picture of how easy complicity is.
Women and Power (Mary Beard)
Two speeches/essays on women in the Classical world, and how restraints on their speech and power are echoed today. Necessarily somewhat limited to Western cultures, but thoughtful and enraging in equal measure – also a very quick read.
Democracy in New Zealand (Raymond Miller)
First-year university textbook; really you’d only read it if you were taking a first-year polsci paper, probably in New Zealand, or if you’re me and spend too much time with polsci majors and want to make sure you haven’t missed anything really important. Feels very incomplete in its modern analysis because it was written before the 2017 election, and somewhat deficient on Māori politics (you can’t just relegate it to one chapter, Raymond), but a solid primer.
Superior (Angela Saini)
How eugenicists made themselves respectable after World War II. Extraordinarily relevant to the current dumpster fire of Western politics (though not limited to Western views on race). Relatively short, very well-written, very worth a read. Book Non-fiction New
Dark Territory (Fred Kaplan)
A history of cyberwar, from the ‘60s to almost the present day. Relatively accessible to the non-specialist, will make you spend a lot of time going ‘wait, THAT was already happening THEN?!’, covers some stuff I should have known as someone with a sideways interest in the field and didn’t. Also remembers women exist, on occasion!
xkcd volume 0 (Randall Munroe)
Do I need to explain this? Some of the older cartoons haven’t aged perfectly, but still a brilliant mix of whimsy and science and heartbreak and mending hearts.
Unfit to Print K J Charles
I wanted the feel-good and I hadn’t re-read this one, because it’s short and not very sexy (due to an abundance of pornography; it makes sense in context). Good fun though.
A Civil Contract and The Spanish Bride (Georgette Heyer)
I rarely re-read her more serious Napoleonic war novels, but they are worth it if I don’t need the sweet fluff of the rest of her work (even if Juana Smith really was fourteen and Jesus Christ, it’s so notable how everybody she meets goes HOLY SHIT YOU ARE AN ACTUAL CHILD). As a Kiwi, I spend a lot of time noticing minor character names and going O HEY WE NAMED A TOWN AFTER YOU, why did we do that, you seem like a dingbat. Especially you, Picton. Bring back Waitohi.
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I enjoyed The Poppy War but there were definitely sections I... skimmed, because there's only so much graphic detail I really need to read. I'm curious about the sequel because where will the author go now??
Max Gladstone writes women in a way that almost makes me forget he's a man. Definitely enjoyed Empress of Forever and need to get my hands on a copy of How to win a time war.
Storm of Locusts was great. I really enjoyed how Maggic was forced (forced!) to make friends, especially female friends. Love the worldbuilding too.
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the thing that really haunts me about The Poppy War is the question of how much of the war crime stuff was taken from real life, because I have a suspicion that the answer might be "all of it", and that's...there's stuff I don't need to know about the human capacity for evil, you know?
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Goodreads is now selling the sequel as, "Fantasy, Chinese history and mythology, vengeance, warlords and monsters, avoiding the will of an angry god," which dang it. Very enticing.
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I found The Poppy War brutal because of the way the protagonist's strengths were also her greatest flaws: every time someone said to her "you can't do that," she fucking did it. And up until the end, it's the only thing keeping her from being ground down to dust, but you can see it coming the whole time that someone's going to tell her "you can't do that!" for a good reason, and she's going to fucking do it, and she does. It's very 'hamartia'
Tried 'Jade City' and then was like "oh right, I *hate* The Godfather", so didn't get very far.
Love A Memory Called Empire, but I do wonder about its/the reader's feelings about complicity in the systems that oppress us. Like, did I end up going "oh well, can't fight city hall!" because it's the easiest conclusion, or because it's the book's conclusion?
Read the first two Dellamonica (even though on reading the first one, I was like, "Wait a second, is she heterosexual?" literally two thirds of the way through the book), keen to get my hands on the third.
Making a note to follow up on the Gladstone, Bear, and Cho, which I have meant to get to but haven't.